The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) has confirmed that they have launched a new range of lawsuits against popular Web sites associated with movie piracy. Some of these companies run search engines and does not necessarily host the pirated content.

This is a new policy considering the group is expanding their coverage of lawsuits by targeting websites, which help people find pirated content, rather than providing the content themselves. It is also the first time; MPAA is targeting the Usenet newsgroup system.

MPAA claims that there is no difference between sites offering pirated content and sites which enables the user to search for pirated content as both promotes piracy on the internet. John Malcom, MPAA director of Worldwide Antipiracy operations said in a statement: “Disabling these powerful networks of illegal file distribution is a significant step in stemming the tide of piracy on the Internet.â€

Some of the popular and recognized names targeted this time around include Torrentspy.com, IsoHunt, BTHub.com, TorrentBox.com, NiteShadow.com, Ed2k-It.com, NZB-Zone.com, BinNews.com, and DVDRs.net.